Guide to the AMCAS Work and Activities Section

Be Program-Specific 

While the suggestions above are good guidelines to follow, it’s important to note that everyone’s list will look a little different. You’ll want to focus on listing work and activities that align with your specific medical program of choice.

For instance, if you’re pursuing programs where research experience is vital, such as Ivy League medical schools or an MD/PhD program, it’s a good idea to list more research activities examples. If you’re pursuing programs that are more focused on primary care, perhaps add more community service or clinical items.

Read Next: A Sample “Why MD/PhD” Essay (Plus, How to Make Yours Stand Out)

What Not to Include

While there are elements you want to make sure you include in a balanced Work & Activities section, there are also certain things you should avoid including:

• Anything you got course credit for (this will be on your transcript)
• Primary or secondary school achievements
• Blood or hair donations
• Shadowing or observing a family member
• Religious attendance (unless these experiences have a service, clinical, leadership, or shadowing component)
• Unethical or immoral practices
• Related activities which can be grouped together
• Anything you can’t expound upon in a medical school interview

Do not repeat yourself across multiple experiences. Additionally, don’t repeat phrases and wording that will directly appear in your personal statement. However, you may discuss different aspects of the same experience in your Work & Activities section and your personal statement.

How to Write Activity Descriptions

All 15 work and activity entries require an “Experience Description.” The majority of your word count should be used to provide the facts of what you did, closing with 1-2 sentences reflecting on that experience. If you’re combining more than one similar experience in this entry, describe all of them.

Your “most meaningful activities” allow additional writing space for you to share more of the abstract ways an experience impacted or shaped you. Be careful not to get too flowery or emotional in your experience descriptions. Your personal statement is the best place on your AMCAS to convey emotion and introspection.

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you write:

• Cover all the facts. Try to include all relevant factual details about your experience, including the who, what, when, where, how, and why. If you worked as a research assistant, describe in concise detail what your research project was observing and the school or organization name under which they operated.
• Include your contribution. Modestly but comprehensively describe your contributions to this experience. If you worked as a tutor at university, talk about how exactly you helped students achieve academic success.
• Brainstorm the best version of the facts. Be truthful. Also, be mindful of what admissions committees will read in the context of reviewing your primary application. When describing experiences, brainstorm how to best represent yourself. When listing clinical volunteering, include successful patient interactions, but leave out how you finished your work despite being late all the time.
• Don’t oversimplify. If you have volunteer experience at an educational non-profit, don’t just say you helped kids learn. Explain the specifics of what the non-profit aims to do and how you aided in the pursuit of those goals.
• Describe what you learned. Each experience in this section should paint a picture of who you are as a member of society and who you would be as a student at your chosen med school. Describe how the experience helped you learn or grow as a person and as a pre-med student. Discuss what qualities you exhibited through this experience.

Reminder: Don’t use rich formatting, such as bullet points or italics.

Do You Need to Use All 15 Entries?

If you have 15 solid activities that showcase your qualifications for medical school, definitely include all 15. In general, including more activities won’t hurt you unless they’re poor quality (i.e. have few hours and/or are irrelevant who you are as a med school applicant).

That said, don’t feel like you have to use all 15 spaces. Quality beats quantity. 

If you spent years working as a nurse or EMT, or have hundreds of hours of lab experience, or are a military veteran, all of these might take up only a single space in the Activities section. Yet they are guaranteed to be more impressive than a bunch of entries for low-impact activities with few hours.

Rather than trying to use up all 15 spaces, just focus on showcasing your relevant clinical, volunteering, leadership, and (if you have it) research experience. If you use all 15 entries, great. If not, don’t worry about it. Trust that AdComs will evaluate your application holistically.

Read Next: How Many Extracurricular Hours Do I Need for Med School?

How to Write About “Most Meaningful Experiences”

You may further discuss 3 out of your 15 experiences with “Most Meaningful Experience Remarks.” More space is given for you to talk about your most meaningful experiences, so take advantage of this extra space:

• Use the higher character count. Don’t waste this extra chance to impress admissions committees. If you skimp on this section, it may give the impression that you have achieved little or that are not a strong writer. One way to utilize this higher character count is to explain how this meaningful experience prepared you to be a better med student or healthcare worker.
• Tell a moving story. This is a great place to discuss moving individual experiences that illustrate a larger point. For example, if you worked as an EMT and someone you helped thanked you, hugged you, and cried with you, include that sort of thing here. However, your personal statement is the best fit for complex stories or emotional elements – keep anecdotes in the Most Meaningful Activities to a minimum.
• Add a personal touch. These most meaningful activities allow you to exhibit your humanity. Stand-out experiences include a strong personal voice.

How do you choose which experiences should be your most meaningful experiences? Answer these questions to help determine which 3 experiences to choose:

• What work or activity are you most proud of?
• When have you displayed the strongest leadership role?
• When did you exhibit competencies in teamwork?
• Are there any experiences that include a strong emotional angle?
• Were any of these experiences how you decided your unique career path?
• Are any of these experiences unusual in a way that will really catch people’s attention?
• Which activities have you participated in for the longest amount of time?

Completed vs. Anticipated Experiences

The Work & Activities section allows you to differentiate between your “completed hours” and “anticipated hours.” This means that if you have upcoming experiences that you haven’t begun but will complete before enrolling in medical school (e.g. volunteer work, social justice advocacy), you can identify those as you fill out your AMCAS. 

You may include experiences with a start date before your application and an end date after your application.

To enter an anticipated experience, start an entry as normal with placeholder dates and zero (0) hours under the “Completed Hours” section. Then, select “Yes” to answer the question, “Do you anticipate completing any hours for this experience in the future?” 

You’ll be able to enter an anticipated start and end date and the anticipated number of hours it will include. Keep in mind that the anticipated end date must be no later than August of the year you would matriculate into a medical program.

When describing an anticipated experience, write how you plan to contribute, what attractive qualities you expect to exhibit, and how you expect to grow as a person or medical professional.

Anticipated experiences cannot be 1 of your 3 most meaningful experiences. These experiences cannot fall under these categories:

• Honors/Awards/Recognitions
• Conferences Attended 
• Publications
• Presentations/Posters 

Read Next: Should You Take a Gap Year Before Medical School?

FAQs